Joined: Fri May 12, 2006 11:24 am Posts: 7523 Location: Rome, Italy
yes Rick, tumblers can do a great job on casted pieces, magnetic ones with SS Needles are likely the best to reach hidden corners, but no chance you could have a surface comparable with fabricated pieces. for not to speak about microporosity.................. OTOH that seems to be the way jewelry pieces are nowadays designed an produced, forgive me but i'm very sorry about that....... .....mass production is gonna kill us, very soon............
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:20 am Posts: 2756 Location: Southern California, U.S.A.
Alberto wrote:
...mass production is gonna kill us, very soon............ ciao albé
My goodness! I didn't realize I was endangering humanity's future by casting a piece rather than fabricating it!
You're technically correct about the polish and I misunderstood your use of the word "internally." I thought you were referring to polishing the inside surfaces of the piece. But I'm afraid the gates came crashing down on traditional hand-made craftsmanship long before I came on the scene. I was a little shocked when I recently learned that one of the finest traditional goldsmiths I know is busily learning Rhino to stay competitive.
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:20 am Posts: 2756 Location: Southern California, U.S.A.
No worries Alberto -- I thought the emoticons would show I was just kidding around. I understand your point but these days people are more likely to drive Fiats, not Ferraris. Time (and economic necessity) march on.
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:20 am Posts: 2756 Location: Southern California, U.S.A.
The piece is finally finished. Unfortunately my photographic skills don't do it justice. When I try to get the metal color right the gems are blah and vice-versa. I wish I had the photographic lighting skills of some other forum members but no cigar. In 3-D the piece is dazzling but I couldn't make the diamonds glitter for the camera the way they do for my eyes, or get the sapphire hue "just right."
Here are my best efforts. Keep in mind that the client wanted to be able to wear the piece both north-south and east-west. That was accomplished by creating a dedicated chain with detachable clips.
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:20 am Posts: 2756 Location: Southern California, U.S.A.
Thanks for your generous comments everyone!
The piece was unusually slow coming together because I essentially lost my sense of hearing due to a mishap a few months ago. I can no longer use the phone so I had to make numerous day trips to various suppliers in Los Angeles to make the job come together. It was also a design that required several revisions along the way for various reasons.
I was also creating another piece at the same time designed by a client which slowed things down. I probably wouldn't have made the ring the same way but this is what the client wanted:
Alberto is right, worked metal always takes a better finish than cast, it's all about the grain size. On the other hand, the sapphire is magnificent, I hope you won't regret selling that also!
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